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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25159207">Man of Gears and Metal</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/literati42/pseuds/literati42'>literati42</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Prodigal Son (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Angst, Body Horror, Fake Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Malcolm Bright Gets a Hug, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, PSTPrideBingo, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:29:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>684</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25159207</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/literati42/pseuds/literati42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>JT is mourning his husband, but Malcolm may not be as dead as he seems. He may not be what he seems at all.</p><p>Double challenge:<br/>PST Pride Bingo Prompt: Queer Centered AU<br/>Whump Trash server mini flash fic: "oof" "twist" "knuckle"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Malcolm Bright/JT Tarmel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Flash Fics - PSON Whump Discord, Prodigal Son Pride Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Man of Gears and Metal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! So this is a double dose of a challenge! Thanks to Jameena for the prompts "twist" "oof" and "knuckle" which inspired this for the flash fic challenge. Then I expanded it for the Pride Bingo :)</p><p>Hope you all enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            When JT Tarmel said he would love Malcolm Bright for the rest of his life, he did not think the promise would be so short. When he held his husband in his arms and kissed him, he tried to put all his fears aside, but Bright was a magnet for the pain of the world.</p><p>            It ended with a hand on his shoulder.</p><p>            “JT?” Gil’s voice said, trying to draw him back to the present moment, but the news settled on him so heavily he could not breathe, could not look up, could not answer.</p><p>            Malcolm Bright was dead.</p><p>            It was a fact he was never going to recover from, a fact he could not imagine surviving. He went on autopilot from that moment forward. When he received a call in the middle of the night from Edrisa asking him to come to the morgue, he went. He no longer had the energy to question it.           </p><p>           </p><p>JT thought it was about a case. JT thought he could not be surprised out of the numb feeling that settled over him, but sitting on the floor of the dimly lit morgue, he knew he had been wrong.</p><p>The detective watched the creature in front of him turn around and began twisting at his knuckle. It looked like its finger was backward. He sucked in a breath as he watched. The creature looked human at a distance, but up close, he saw all the wrongness. The one blue eye was human enough, but in the other socket, he saw gears, endlessly turning. As the creature moved, he saw the ungraceful jerks of motion.</p><p>            The knuckle twisted around 360 degrees and came off. No blood, only more gears. The creature screwed the knuckle back on, the right way this time.</p><p>            “What are you?” JT asked.</p><p>            “Malcolm Bright.”</p><p>            “You look like Bright, but you’re not Bright.”</p><p>            “I’m what’s left of him,” the creature of gears said, kneeling down, in front of JT. “I’m what remains.”</p><p>            “JT!” Edrisa’s voice caught him, “Don’t hurt him!” She ran in. The woman had grease smeared on her cheek. “He’s telling the truth.”</p><p>            “What the hell, Edrisa!” JT said, standing up, taking a step away from the creature.</p><p>            Tears flashed into her eyes, “I did everything I could I…I had to save him.”</p><p>            “You did this?” JT asked.</p><p>            “He was going to die,” Edrisa said, shaking her head. “I did what I had to.” A cold metal hand settled on JT’s arm.</p><p>On reaction, he shoved the creature away. It hit the wall with an “oof.” The thing that had Malcolm’s face collapsed to the floor.</p><p>“He’s not steady yet!” Edrisa shouted, running to its side and taking its arm. “Don’t hurt him.”</p><p>“Hurt him? You have the nerve to call that thing Bright?”</p><p>“It’s his mind!” Edrisa shouted, “I did what I could to save most of his body too. JT, he was going to die.”</p><p>“That thing is not my husband.”</p><p>The thing on the floor closed its eyes, grabbing the sides of his head. “I told you, I told you,” he said, his voice shaking. It was that voice that made JT stop. It sounded scared.</p><p>It sounded like Malcolm.</p><p>“He hates me, Edrisa,” the thing said. Edrisa cupped its face and looked straight into its eyes.</p><p>“You are you, Bright. We’ll make everyone see.”</p><p>In that moment, JT knew, this thing not an “it.” He. He was a he. Bright, now more machine than man, but Bright nonetheless. JT stood up and reached his hand out slowly. Bright turned to him and took his hand with his own cold metal one.</p><p>“For better or worse,” JT said, the words sounding hollow and distant to his ears, but Bright’s face moved awkwardly into a smile.</p><p>“You always did know what to say.”</p><p>It was so Bright, the words, the tone, the awkward but desperate reaching for connection. JT reached out and drew him in, hugging him tightly. Bright was alive, not himself, not entirely, but alive. Everything else was details.</p><p>“I love you.”<br/>            “I love you.”</p><p>Everything else would wait.</p>
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